


You Can Run

by farquaad



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Injury, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Minor Character Death, Pain, Suicidal Thoughts, Zombie Apocalypse, just a lil bit though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 07:31:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16090931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/farquaad/pseuds/farquaad
Summary: '“I hate this,” Phil said softly. Hated not knowing if his friends were alive or dead, hated the everpresent fear of fucking up and dying, hated what the world had become. Hate hate hate.'





	You Can Run

Dan’s feet and calves ached from running for miles on end. Every muscle in his body felt taut - like it was about to snap at any moment. The cold wind burned his cheeks and caused his eyes to water up, making it even harder to see in the dark than it already was.

Beside him was Phil, who was running equally as hard. Heavy pants of breath left his mouth as his feet hit the ground hard with every stride.

Phil seemed to be holding up better than Dan was. Dan’s lungs felt like they were about to burst and he would give anything to just be able to lay down and get off of his feet. Maybe close his eyes and let a different kind of darkness take over for a while.

_Yeah right,_ Dan thought as he kept running.  _Like I’ll be getting sleep anytime soon._

The last thing Dan remembered was laying in bed, shirtless, with Phil cuddled up next to him. In that moment, Dan felt happy. Content. At peace. But all that changed when the bell started ringing.

_Dan and Phil had found a group of people in a church who was kind enough to take them in. When they had shown up at the church, they were looking for wine. They had truly been planning to die that night. To drink and kiss and give each other the best night possible, tell the each other how much they were loved, and then they were going to end it. Quickly. Painlessly. Together._

_They opened the church doors hand-in-hand and were surprised to see an entire community flourishing inside. Older kids were reading passages out of the children’s bibles to younger kids and the adults were sitting in pews, eating soup out of various containers._

_Dan and Phil started apologizing immediately. They knew from experience how territorial people could get and the last thing they wanted was any sort of confrontation. Not that these people looked very confrontational, but still._

_“No need to apologize,” a woman said, coming up to them. She had reddish brown hair and freckles. They soon found_   _out that her name was Naia and that she and her four younger sisters had found the church abandoned and have been taking in people ever since.  
_

_“We’re gay,” Phil said blatantly. “Is that going to be okay with you guys?”_

_It was second nature at this point to have to come out to religious people for their own safety._ Guess some things never change,  _Phil thought._

_Naia chuckled. “We’re not actually religious. We chose this church not because we’re Christain but because it’s one of the only safe structures around. And the bibles are the only reading material around here, so we make the best with what we have. We welcome everyone here unless you’re actually genuinely terrible people.”_

_Dan looked at Phil. He tried to get Phil to understand what he was thinking with that psychic connection they seemed to have, but there was too much going on in Dan’s head to be conveyed with one look._

_“I’ll let you two talk,” Naia said, before walking away to give them some space.  
_

_Phil was the first to speak up. “I think it’s a sign.”_

_“You know I don’t believe in signs,” Dan said, “but I think we should try this out.”  
_

_Phil smiled widely and engulfed Dan into a hug._

Both Dan and Phil jolted up when they heard the bell ringing. They knew what that meant. It was one of the first things they learned when they joined the community at the church.

_“The bell rings, you run like hell,” Naia had said. “You run west and don’t stop until you get to the old hardware store that’s next to the gas station. Have backpacks packed and ready to go that you can grab last-minute if you need to. You won’t be able to take anything else.”_

Dan had managed to get his shirt back on while Phil grabbed the two backpacks from the closet.

That’s why they were in the situation they were in now. In the middle of some forest, running for their lives.

Phil swallowed hard. His whole body hurt but he was determined to keep going. Dan, on the other hand, was not.

“Phil, I can’t do this anymore,” Dan said breathlessly.

“Yes you  _can,_ come on! It can’t be that much further,” Phil replied.

“We’re in the middle of the fucking forest, Phil,” Dan snapped. “We need to get a hardware store. I doubt one will just pop up in the woods like a gingerbread house.”

Phil didn’t say anything, mostly because he had to conserve his breath, but partly because he didn’t know what to say. Instead, Phil handed his water bottle to Dan. There wasn’t much in it, so Dan just took a small sip before trying to hand it back. Phil refused, so Dan kept it with him.

“I just need a rest. You can go on without me, I’ll catch up,” Dan said.

Genuine fear filled Phil to the brim.

“No,” he said sharply. “You know what will happen if you stop.”

Dan huffed out a breath of annoyance. He didn’t want this, to keep running endlessly. He just wanted the pain to stop. He wanted peace. But he also knew he couldn’t leave Phil all alone.

“Dan. Am I crazy or is that a road up there?” Phil asked.

“Holy shit. That’s a road!” Dan said happily once he had spotted the asphalt.

They kept running and Dan was filled with a new kind of energy. Eventually, the hardware store came into sight and Dan mentally patted himself and Phil on the back for not getting lost on the way.

They got to the front doors, which were all chained up. They split up until they found the back entrance.

“Hello?” Phil asked, banging on the door. “Is anyone there?”

The two men heard shuffling behind the door and then it opened. They instantly recognized the person who had opened the door as Leah, Naia’s little sister.

“Hurry,” she said, beckoning them in.

Dan and Phil quickly entered the dark building and Leah shut the door behind them. She pushed some boxes back in front of the door and let out a sigh.

“Did Naia make it here yet?” Dan asked as he looked around. The place was pretty big, but he could only see a little bit of the space thanks to the single emergency candle that was lit.

Leah shook her head and tears filled her eyes, waiting to fall.

“Is she... not gonna make it here? At all?” Dan asked. Dread filled every inch of him.

Leah shook her head and tears started streaming down her face.

“Oh, Leah,” Dan said soothingly as the 14-year-old wrapped her arms around his torso tightly.

Dan shot Phil a look. They were both saddened by this news. Naia had become a good friend of theirs. But they were the only ones here with Leah so they had to be strong.

Leah pulled away from the hug and wiped her eyes.

“She stayed behind to make sure everyone got out. When we had helped as many people out as possible, we started running. But the commotion attracted some of the corpse creatures. One of them got her a-and bit her arm. Then her neck. I froze at first, after seeing a-all the blood. I wanted to stay with her but I knew it wasn’t safe. So I ran,” Leah explained, breathing heavily.

Dan winced. He could only imagine how scared Leah must have been. Seeing her sister get bitten and then having to run all this way by herself. It kind of made him feel like a wimp in comparison.

“Do you know what happened? Why we had to evacuate?” Phil asked gently.

Leah shook her head. “All I know is that the church was almost completely surrounded. If Dylan hadn’t shot some of them from the roof to create a path, we all would have been screwed.”

“Damn,” Dan said in disbelief.

“Anyway,” Leah said, straightening up her posture, “let me see your bags. I’ll go through them and sort your things. I need a distraction.”

Dan and Phil both nodded and handed her the backpacks and water bottle. Leah sat down closer to the candle and unzipped one of the bags, rummaging through it.

“I can’t believe... I mean Naia... she was only 21. She was younger than both of us,” Phil said quietly so that Leah couldn’t hear.

“I know,” Dan agreed, looking down at the floor.

“And Dylan. Do you think he made it?” Phil asked.

“I don’t know,” Dan replied. “We’ll just... have to wait and see if he shows up. Or any of the others. Oh God, Phil.”

“I hate this,” Phil said softly. It was a simple sentence but it held so much meaning behind it. Phil hated not knowing if his friends were alive or dead, hated the everpresent fear of fucking up and dying, hated what the world had become. Hate hate hate. He felt so much hate, but Dan was always there to keep him grounded and calm. Phil took a deep breath.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” he announced quietly but he made no move to step away from Dan’s presence.

Dan hummed in agreement.

They fell into a silence then. Both of them were beyond exhausted and were trying to process all of this.

“Hey, Phil?” Dan finally said.

“Yeah?” Phil replied.

“You really saved me back there. I would have given up if it wasn’t for you. So, thank you,” Dan said, leaning his head on Phil’s chest.

“Of course,” Phil replied, placing a kiss on Dan’s head.

“I love you. I would never leave you behind. Ever,” Phil promised.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Adam Jones // Read more of my fics on my Tumblr! I'm farquaadphilly :)


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